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Today, there is a significant "digital divide" in the agricultural sector between developing and developed countries. Such a digital disparity has negative consequences on the international competitiveness of these countries and their ability to comply with Food Satefy Standards. We propose a theoretical model to analyze the role of smart agriculture in the ability of countries to comply with international food safety regulations, specifically the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for contaminants such as aflatoxins, pesticides,and heavy metals. Firstly, we show that reducing the digital divide will always improve international food safety and food security (availability of a global supply). However, it can lead to more intense international competition, potentially causing a perverse effect: underinvestment in good agricultural practices by more digitally advanced countries. Furthermore, the digital catch-up of less advanced countries cannot sufficiently reduce health risks in international markets unless accompanied by strengthening official food control systems. Finally, we show that such digital catch-up encourages lowering MRLs rather than relaxing them, contrary to what producers or authorities might hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many firms vie to attain a strategic bottleneck position in their industry, as it promises superior value appropriation over an extended period. Using a mixed-methods approach, we investigated the power dynamics between bottleneck and challenger segments in the airline ticket distribution sector. Our study of the bottleneck formed by the global distribution system (GDS) firms reveals the mechanisms that these firms employed to maintain power, as well as the mechanisms that airlines in the challenger segment used to attain power. These mechanisms strongly influenced the momentum of power shifts as the industry evolved towards greater modularization; we show how they worked recursively in a process of power distribution dynamics during that evolution. In addition, these mechanisms explain the dynamics at work between the incumbent and challenger segments, with airlines increasing the pressure to modularize and the GDS firms resisting that pressure. Our findings contribute to the literature on industry architectural change and industry evolution by providing a comprehensive understanding of the power dynamics that affect when and how strategic bottlenecks dissolve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, there is a significant “digital divide” in the agricultural sector between developing and developed countries. Such a digital disparity has negative consequences on the international competitiveness of these countries and their ability to comply with Food Satefy Standards. We propose a theoretical model to analyze the role of smart agriculture in the ability of countries to comply with international food safety regulations, specifically the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for contaminants such as aflatoxins, pesticides,and heavy metals. Firstly, we show that reducing the digital divide will always improve international food safety and food security (availability of a global supply). However, it can lead to more intense international competition, potentially causing a perverse effect: underinvestment in good agricultural practices by more digitally advanced countries. Furthermore, the digital catch-up of less advanced countries cannot sufficiently reduce health risks in international markets unless accompanied by strengthening official food control systems. Finally, we show that such digital catch-up encourages lowering MRLs rather than relaxing them, contrary to what producers or authorities might hope.

Achieving sustainable agri-food systems (SAS) requires the collaborative work of multiple participants. Using a systemic analytical approach, the limiting factors for the sustainable transition of the agri-food system (AS) of the Mexican avocado value chain (VC) were studied. International, national and government data sources were consulted and complemented by three case studies. Short-term policies, current VC and AS governance structures, inadequate infrastructure for the sustainable use of natural resources and insecurity limit the achievement of the SAS. Acceptable economic indicators for the sector should allow for social and environmental improvements by introducing more efficient irrigation systems and improving current working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the Role of ownership structure on the Effect of investment strategy on future performance. The research focuses on ownership that compares foreign and domestic ownership structures. The research sample is a non-financial company in ASEAN countries. Multiple regression was performed to test the hypothesis using a financial dataset from 795 firm years of observation of non-financial companies in ASEAN. Our results show that foreign and domestic owners negatively affect the relationship between investment strategy and the future performance. The study’s results indicate that foreign and domestic ownership have no significant difference as a supporting factor for implementing the investment strategy in improving the company’s future performance. Our findings confirm the IO theory about implementing an investment strategy that affects future performance even though it impacts decreasing financial performance because companies need more time to see the impact of an investment strategy.

The present investigation elaborates on the level of game theory application for the applied and theoretical analyses of climate change and development studies. This editorial shows that the common good character of global climate alongside the increasing internalization of environmental externalities through national regulations and international environmental treaties jointly result in the increasing congruence between the context of climate change problems and the game theoretical method. Furthermore, the adoption of the Paris Accord by the overwhelming majority of developing countries as well as the disproportionate vulnerability of the Global South have led to an increasing shift in focus with regard to international development cooperation, from poverty alleviation and economic growth to green growth and circular economy solutions, within developing countries. The underutilization of game theory in the context of development studies is not satisfactory. This paper underlines the importance of implementing an impetus to researchers for scholarly discussions and applications of game theory in a discourse on the following topics: 1. economic growth; 2. climate change mitigation and adaptation; and 3. a broader socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the Role of ownership structure on the Effect of investment strategy on future performance. The research focuses on ownership that compares foreign and domestic ownership structures. The research sample is a non-financial company in ASEAN countries. Multiple regression was performed to test the hypothesis using a financial dataset from 795 firm years of observation of non-financial companies in ASEAN. Our results show that foreign and domestic owners negatively affect the relationship between investment strategy and the future performance. The study’s results indicate that foreign and domestic ownership have no significant difference as a supporting factor for implementing the investment strategy in improving the company’s future performance. Our findings confirm the IO theory about implementing an investment strategy that affects future performance even though it impacts decreasing financial performance because companies need more time to see the impact of an investment strategy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private sector innovation is critical to mitigating and adapting to climate change. This paper studies innovation in solar energy technology, a key source of clean energy that has experienced rapid price declines over the past decade. To understand the causes and effects of innovation, I estimate a dynamic structural model of competition among solar panel manufacturers. The model captures important features of the industry, including the role of government subsidies for solar adoption, and I employ a unique measure of technological progress that is observable and verifiable. The results produce two main insights. First, ignoring innovation by firms can generate biased estimates of the effects of government policy. Second, decentralized government intervention in a global market generates spillovers; a subsidy in one country causes international firms to innovate more, leading to lower prices and increased adoption elsewhere. This spillover underscores the need for international coordination by governments and the private sector to address climate change. This paper was accepted by Erica Plambeck, Special Section of Management Science on Business and Climate Change. Funding: The author acknowledges support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship Assistance Agreement FP-91769401-0] and Harvard [Joseph Crump Fellowship]. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4662. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the effect of foodborne outbreaks that occurred in 2006 and 2008 in the peanut butter industry across the United States. The objective of this study was to estimate the demand and pricing conduct in the peanut butter industry under the salmonella outbreaks. The study applied a random coefficients multinomial logit demand for differentiated peanut butter brands. With own and cross-price elasticities and cost parameters corresponding to those products' attributes, the study analyzes the effect of a foodborne outbreak on consumers' behavior and manufacturers' pricing performance. Furthermore, this study used the demand estimates to measure the market power of peanut butter brands. Consumers react negatively to price in all cities, but the other taste parameter estimates for calorie, fat, sugar, and protein had a wide distribution, depending on consumers’ demographics. For pricing conduct, the cities indicated higher Lerner indices when the city shifted the pricing conduct.

The Kyrgyz model of export, for example of agricultural products, often demonstrates its organizational weakness which is not stimulating the economy of the country as a whole. This article shows the example of the Japanese general trading companies which successfully developed their own model of optimized outer trade in the context of Chandler’s industrial organization theory.

The presented research touches upon the issues of the emergence, functioning and liquidation of economic councils. The article shows the main reasons that signaled the beginning of the structural decentralization of the management system, as well as the factors that caused the reverse process.The methodological basis of the presented research is an approach based on the use of the historicism principle. It allows us to analyze historical stages in accordance with the specific historical situation in their dialectical interconnection and conditionality. The application of the historicism principle requires the study of any component of the historical process in its development. Guided by this principle, the author sought to show the transformation of the industrial management system of the USSR in 1957–1964. The principle under consideration was used in conjunction with the methods of scientific knowledge. In his research, the author used such general scientific research methods as analysis, synthesis, deduction and abstraction.The relative effectiveness of the obtained reforms has been shown. At the same time, structural changes in the management system could not give an explosive character to the growth of the industrial sector. The reasons for the curtailment of economic councils lay not only in voluntarism or organizational problems, but in the absence of a single system of decentralized management. Under the slogans of territorial administration, in real practice, sectoral centralized administration was preserved. In addition, the system itself, being inert throughout the reforms, followed the path of strengthening departmental-sectoral management.

This paper explored the potentiality of social networks analysis to discuss the industrial organization of Formula One since the 2000 season. We tested three major hypotheses related to the centrality of championship teams, their selectiveness when observing drivers’ moves, and the role of certain explicative attributes. There are oligopolistic elements in Formula One, with champions adopting high values of betweenness centrality, sending and receiving drivers from some other teams and opting to exchange drivers and resources from other teams with not-so-competitive scuderias. Formula One teams that win the Constructors’ Championship tend to assume central roles in the network of drivers’ moves. Despite their centrality, these winning teams are very selective regarding the origin of the drivers they want to contract. There are more chances of contractual ties between teams which are not significantly close in terms of ranks or budgets.

Does the proof-of-work consensus protocol serve its intended purpose of supporting decentralized cryptocurrency mining? To address this question, we develop a game-theoretical model in which miners first invest in hardware to improve the efficiency of their operations and then compete for mining rewards in a rent-seeking game. We show that centralization grows with heterogeneity in mining costs, but hardware capacity constraints prevent the most efficient miners from monopolizing the mining process. Investment leads to a more decentralized network unless larger miners have a significant comparative advantage in acquiring new hardware. Our model generates empirically supported implications: (i) mining centralization is countercyclical with respect to mining reward, and (ii) a change in mining reward leads to a less-than-proportional change in hash rates. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, Special Section of Management Science: Blockchains and Crypto Economics. Supplemental Material: The data file is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4840. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postmodern organizations strive to cultivate open innovation systems to foster product innovation and commercialization. Cultural dynamics can be a massive obstacle in flourishing the inbound and outbound open innovation in many organizations. However, little is known about the effect of different types of culture on the open innovation dimensions. This research aimed to investigate the role of cultural subtleties in nurturing inbound and outbound open innovation in the organizations. A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from a random sample of 231 managers from the automotive industry. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses using Smart PLS. The results indicated that hierarchy culture, associated with formal rules and regulations, negatively affects the inbound and outbound open innovation. The Market culture has a positive relationship with inbound and outbound open innovation while adhocracy culture could positively impact the inbound open innovation only. On the other hand, clan culture has a negative effect on the outbound open innovation. We concluded that the organizational culture focused on internal integrations is more suitable for outbound open innovation, and the type of organizational culture focused on external differentiation is more likely to support inbound open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical background: These studies are motivated by three reasons: (1) the Competitive Intelligence (CI) approach is a critical factor in increasing the organization’s ability to monitor and strengthen competitive advantage; (2) too little research has been done on the use of new management theories in the CI approach and (3) there is no research devoted to computer-assisted CI. Purpose of the article: This study proposes a comprehensive framework for extending the CI’s potential in the organization’s activities and its computer-assisted support. The purpose of this article is to develop a new CI construction theory and propose a holistic, conceptual CI model, as well as carry out its initial verification. Research methods: The comprehensive CI model is based on the following theories: (1) Resource-Based View (RBV), Industrial Organization (IO) and Business Model Canvas, which were used for CI design, (2) theories for measuring and validating CI implementation, i.e.: Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM), Industrial Critical Success Factors (ICSF) and (3) theories for integrated computer-assisted CI. The validation of the proposed comprehensive CI model was based on data on the opinions of SUV class users. Main findings: The results obtained during the validation of the CI model show great importance for a comprehensive look at the topic of computer-assisted CI. This contribution is significant because in the literature there are no such studies and conclusions obtained from them. The results obtained and conclusions should be useful for all organizations that need to analyze competitiveness using a comprehensive CI model.

The study aims to examine the moderating effect of the ownership structure on the relationship strategi investasi and the comprehensive firm performance in ASEAN. Using data from financial reports and sustainability report. Samples are 34 nonfinancial companies in ASEAN 2007 until 2019. The sample testing method is unbalanced panel data regression to test hypothesis. Th results shows Foreign and domestic ownership moderate the relationship between strategi investasi and productivity and kinerja keuangan. This research also proves that foreign and domestic ownership cannot form the relationship between strategi investasi and kinerja lingkungan. This study gives additional evidence as confirmation of the theory of Industrial Organization about the implementation of the corporate strategy is influenced by external factors, namely the role of foreign ownership in improving corporate performance. This study gives new insight to the company about the importance of considering the strategi investasi based R&D and the role of foreign and domestic ownership to increase productivity, kinerja keuangan and kinerja lingkungan.

The present investigation elaborates on the level of game theory application for the applied and theoretical analyses of climate change and development studies. This editorial shows that the common good character of global climate alongside the increasing internalization of environmental externalities through national regulations and international environmental treaties jointly result in the increasing congruence between the context of climate change problems and the game theoretical method. Furthermore, the adoption of the Paris Accord by the overwhelming majority of developing countries as well as the disproportionate vulnerability of the Global South have led to an increasing shift in focus with regard to international development cooperation, from poverty alleviation and economic growth to green growth and circular economy solutions, within developing countries. The underutilization of game theory in the context of development studies is not satisfactory. This paper underlines the importance of implementing an impetus to researchers for scholarly discussions and applications of game theory in a discourse on the following topics: 1. economic growth; 2. climate change mitigation and adaptation; and 3. a broader socioeconomic development.

Brazilian poultry sector stands out as the second largest poultry producer in the world and the world's largest exporter of chicken meat, where Paraná State has one of the most important contributions to the sector. Thus, the main objective of this paper consist to discuss the relationship between poultry producers and their integrators in West region of Paraná, capturing poultry producer’s perception and theirs decisions for choosing and staying in an integration contract. A sample of 98 producers were interviewed and non-parametric statistical tests were used, including cross-reference tables, comparison proportions tests and bivariate correlations. Results indicate that producer profiles are mainly constituted by small or medium enterprises with a high dependence degree on agro-industry. An intense competition exists and mostly, producers choose an integrator based on brand trustworthiness and not according to prices offered, explained by the high specificity of production relationship.

The paper investigates the relationship between the State and big capital (chaebols) in the South Korea in three periods: the phase of constitution of the heavy industry between the 1960s and 1980s, the period of institutional transformation characteristic of neoliberal financialization in the 1990s, and the limited reversal of liberalizing reforms after the 1997 crisis. For this, we reject forms of evaluation of economic policies that assume universally correct models to identify errors and successes in the cases analyzed. On the contrary, we emphasize the class character of the Korean state and its role in coordinating the more general interests of capitalist accumulation rather than serving the particularistic interests of corporations. Therefore, we emphasize not only the State's capabilities, but its partnership with the chaebols for the definition and execution of common objectives in each period. We conclude that, like economism, political voluntarism should be rejected as a model of comparative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Informe Gepec is the property of Informe Gepec and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We evaluate the impact of competition on investments in Europe's mobile communications market during the 2011 to 2021 period. There are stark and sustained differences in market outcomes between three- and four-player markets in Europe, and economic theory suggests these could be partly explained by the dynamic effects of competition on the ability and incentives to invest by market players. We find strong evidence that market concentration in Europe is below optimal levels that would maximize investments, especially in four-player markets. The dispersion of fixed costs and assets among a greater number of players can result in diseconomies of scale and a less efficient use of resources. We also find evidence that investment incentives to improve quality and innovate are lower in markets with lower concentration indices and profit margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical background: These studies are motivated by three reasons: (1) the Competitive Intelligence (CI) approach is a critical factor in increasing the organization’s ability to monitor and strengthen competitive advantage; (2) too little research has been done on the use of new management theories in the CI approach and (3) there is no research devoted to computer-assisted CI. Purpose of the article: This study proposes a comprehensive framework for extending the CI’s potential in the organization’s activities and its computer-assisted support. The purpose of this article is to develop a new CI construction theory and propose a holistic, conceptual CI model, as well as carry out its initial verification. Research methods: The comprehensive CI model is based on the following theories: (1) Resource-Based View (RBV), Industrial Organization (IO) and Business Model Canvas, which were used for CI design, (2) theories for measuring and validating CI implementation, i.e.: Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM), Industrial Critical Success Factors (ICSF) and (3) theories for integrated computer-assisted CI. The validation of the proposed comprehensive CI model was based on data on the opinions of SUV class users. Main findings: The results obtained during the validation of the CI model show great importance for a comprehensive look at the topic of computer-assisted CI. This contribution is significant because in the literature there are no such studies and conclusions obtained from them. The results obtained and conclusions should be useful for all organizations that need to analyze competitiveness using a comprehensive CI model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papeles de Europa is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Economia Contemporânea is the property of Revista de Economia Contemporanea and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

International small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) encounter several problems, including how to manage the industry forces in order to achieve their performance goals. Focusing mainly on international SMEs, we explored this issue by examining competitive advantage as a mediator in the relationship between industry forces and international SMEs' performance. This study was conducted in the context of the Iranian market. Iran offers substantial economic opportunities to international SMEs since it has a population of 85 million people, a range of natural resources, and a sophisticated manufacturing industry. In Iran, an international SME is a firm with less than 100 employees that originated outside of Iran but has an entity inside the country. The partial least squares method was employed in analyzing the survey data collected from 166 international SMEs in Iran. The results indicate that industry forces have significant effects on performance, but competitive advantage does not have a mediating impact. The results of this study reaffirm that international SMEs should be aware of the consequences of industry forces in order to attain their performance goals. This is especially critical for some developing economies which are more characterized by ambiguities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. This paper models the dynamics of technological change through the competitive interaction of two firms. The duopolists strive to outperform each other by exploiting the two fundamental Schumpeterian forces of economic development: innovation and imitation. method. By extending over a number of periods a technological “limit-pricing model” (whereby the “learning-by-doing effect” is the source of the barrier to entry) and assuming that the two firms compete following one another in the role of innovator and imitator. As result, it is possible to trace out the paths followed by the market shares of both producers and to derive endogenously a unit cost curve characterizing the industry in the long run. conclusion. A further merit of the model presented herein is its representation of a “micro-macro transition phase” — viz., the passage from individual practice to industrial standard — through a simplified but, nonetheless, realistic depiction of behavioural routines.

As a new type of agricultural management organization alliance, the effect of the benefit linkage generated by agricultural industrialization consortium on collaboration performance is closely related to the sustainable development of the agricultural economy. Based on survey data on consortia in Shanghai, this paper analyzes the effects of benefit linkage and uses multiple linear regression modeling to comprehensively explore the impact of benefit linkage effects on collaboration performance from both subjective and objective aspects, as well as the differences in impact on the collaboration performance of consortia with different organizational structures. The results show that the benefit linkage effect has a positive impact on collaboration performance, and there are differences in the impact of the benefit linkage effect on collaboration performance under different types of organizational structures, among which the resource allocation effect, capitalization effect and correlation effect of the benefit linkage of non-joint stock consortia have a positive impact on collaboration performance; the resource allocation effect of joint-stock consortia has no significant impact on collaboration performance, the capitalization effect on collaboration performance is significantly lower than that of non-joint stock consortia, and the correlation effect on collaboration performance is significantly higher than that of non-joint-stock consortia. Therefore, under a certain benefit linkage, according to the establishment purpose and collaboration goal, a consortium with different types of organizational structures should be established to give full play to the impact of the benefit linkage effect on collaboration performance and promote the sustainable development of agricultural industrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ensayos - Revista de Economía is the property of Ensayos Revista de Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The regulation of the electricity sector, in general and in the particular case of Spain, has been brilliantly analysed by economists and contemporary jurists placing the emphasis, preferably, on economic efficiency and social justice. This article, based on the writings of economic historians in recent years, has as its objective to shed light on the logic to regulatory changes in Spain. Exactly as has been done for other countries, the explanation of factors and of the characteristics of this regulatory change, without doubt, will contribute to the understanding of its special nature within the overall international panorama, as well as a better understanding of the contributions of other previous and future works from different perspectives of analysis. The conclusions on the historical construction of the regulation of the electricity industry until the twentieth century allow us to define four big stages, deeply conditioned by their political regimes and the economic circumstances of the country, as well as by the unequal importance of economic agents in the taking of decisions: powerful energy companies, weak governments, and a complete lack of consumer input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perspective managerial trends in the use and development of Unconventional Technologies emphasize both the management of processes and the improvement and creation of new technologies, equipment, installations and machinery equipped with a high degree of flexibility and automation of the technological process. Due to the strong growth of competition on the market, the managerial conception of industrial organizations that are also identified by unconventional technologies will have to be directed not only towards increasing quality but also towards the design of specific competitive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 5, 2020, the U.S. Trade Representative announced plans to negotiate a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom (USUKFTA). We use GTAP to model the economic impacts of such a free trade agreement. We also develop a modified GTAP model that includes worker displacement to incorporate unemployment generated by the free trade agreement into the model. We find that a standard GTAP model leads to a very small improvement in economic conditions for both countries, but more for the U.K. than the U.S.A. Our worker displacement model shows a small negative impact to employment for both countries and a negative effect on GDP for the U.S.A. It is unusual for a trade model to show a negative impact on GDP or employment from adoption of a free trade agreement. Our results suggest that worker displacement is an important impact of trade agreements. Our results also explain the industry-specific effects of a USUKFTA. We find that the manufacturing sector is behind most changes in output and the trade balance for both models. In particular, the U.S. transportation equipment and Computer/electrical sectors suffer the most, while the U.K. suffers more from a decline in service sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future organizational landscape may change drastically by mid-century as a result of widespread implementation of 3D printing. This article argues that global will turn local; mega (factories, ships, malls) will become mini; long supply chains will shrink; many jobs will be broadened to combine design, consulting, sales, and production roles; and large organizations will make room for smaller ones. "A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything." [President Obama, State of the Union Address, 2013]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kim and Luca (2019) consider Google's grouped results for local businesses (the "OneBox"). They contend that Google made a "strategic decision" to exclude reviews from other platforms (like Yelp) in these results and claim that this led to a quality degradation for search users, based on a randomized controlled trial (RCT) experiment. The purpose of this Comment is to clarify the robustness of Kim and Luca's characterization of the situation and empirical findings, including in particular with respect to the noise and likely bias resulting from the control benchmark for the RCT experiment being based on a degraded version of Google's OneBox, rather than the actual version. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Size distribution is generally accepted as an important characteristic of business structure, one which impacts on competitiveness, with firm size often regarded as the key determinant of entrepreneurial innovativeness. This article describes the size distribution of enterprises taken from a statistical set of Slovak business entities with a special focus on the relation between size and ownership of the businesses. A change in the probability firm size distribution is an undisputable indicator of a change in the business structure. This article seeks to create an eventual starting point for better policymaking in Slovakia, a country which bases its competitiveness primarily on large and medium-sized foreign investments. The authors’ main objective is to determine the size distribution type of the firms. The Anderson-Darling and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were used to determine if the dataset has been taken from a population with a specific distribution. Among the main results with regard to Slovak business structure, a statistically significant dependence was shown between the ownership type and the size type of SMEs. The authors confirmed the Pareto, Power and Generalized Gamma distributions as appropriate probability distributions of firm sizes. The probability distribution of SMEs in general as well as according to individual ownership type shows a Lévy distribution. The authors used the environment of the R programming language along with the software EasyFit.

The aim of this paper is evaluation different studies related to the industrial policy and its capabilities to increase competitive power of domestic companies, highlighting factors that affect results of such policy and performance of firms. This paper contributes to the theory analysis of old studies and recent research results. Overview of too different studies on the topic gives multidimensional results and the paper contains synthesis of various studies from the field. If in some topics it is observed general tendency in developing concepts and compromise theories by economists, theory of industrial organization experience uncertainty in how industrial policy should be organized. Realization of industrial policy can eventually give nothing as a result of small financial resources attracted for conducting of the policy as concept of “big push” claims or another reasons. Part of empirical studies state for vertical realization of industrial initiatives by supporting of defined sectors of economy when others suggest cluster approach to assist conglomerate of interdependent producers from distinctive industries. Nevertheless, all share the view that the goal of industrial policy is increasing of competitiveness of local companies. And the study highlights the sign of such competitive odds by appearance of so-called “hits” in export.